MLB – Manny Ramirez Agreed To a $45 Million Deal with the Dodgers

The Dominican baseball player of 36 years-old, Manny Ramirez, is back with the Los Angeles Dodgers, after signing an agreement on Wednesday for a two-year contract that it is worth $45 million; Manny will receive $25 million for the 2009 season and $20 million for the 2010 season. At the beginning, the Dodgers where offering him $42 million, but Ramirez’s agent Scott Boras managed to increase it to $43.5 million.

Ramirez declined several proposals from the Los Angeles team before accepting this one. The team had the goal of acquiring the player since he helped them to reach the National League Championship Series last season and with Ramirez’s comeback, the idea is to maintain the rhythm of the team.

The Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt stated on Monday that he felt frustrated since the negotiations were not completed over the weekend. He expected to have signed Manny as a Dodger since the team was having a celebration on Sunday for the inauguration of the new facility of training that they will share with the Chicago White Sox, which cost $100 million, and the Dodgers’ franchise wanted to celebrate the acquisition of Ramirez too but it was not possible.

“It’s fair to say that I’m a little frustrated,” McCourt said. “The reason we wanted to have this wrapped up by Friday was because we wanted to celebrate the opening of Camelback Ranch and be talking about Manny as a Dodger, instead of talking about Camelback Ranch and the Manny Ramirez negotiations. Today is a day to say welcome to Dodger and White Sox fans, and that’s why it bothers me. The distraction it causes is just unfair.”

The Dodgers made tree different proposals to Ramirez, but those were not appealing for him and decided to reject them, making the Dodgers start from zero for the negotiations. McCourt said that Manny’s agent, Scott Boras had been making the negotiation more difficult, to what he responded that they were working on getting to a deal under the terms that the player wanted and that will beneficiate both parts, which at the end, was what happened.

Ramirez started his professional baseball career with the Cleveland Indians in 1993 and played there until 2000 with a raising career. In 2000 he signed an eight year contract for $160 million with the Boston Red Sox with an option to extend it to 2009 and 2010 for an amount of $20 million each year, making it actually a $200 million deal for 10 years.

In 2008 he had some altercates with some people, including one with a traveling secretary for the team called Jack McCormick. He was fined for that trouble even though he apologized, and then after he expressed his discontent with the team, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-way deal. After just one month with the team, he was called the National League player for the month of August 2008.

Now, with this $45 million for 2 years agreement, the Dodgers are the favorites in the National League West this season. With the Dodgers, Ramirez batted .396 with a .489 on-base percentage, 17 homeruns and 53 RBIs in 53 games. Currently, Ramirez is a .314 lifetime hitter who has hit 527 career homeruns.

About the Author

Audrey Nolan is a top senior copy writer on MLB games and sports action for the sportsbetting www.instantactionsports.com/